A 76-year-old Texas woman was killed when a Tesla that reportedly was operating in automated driver-assistance mode crashed into her house, according to authorities. The driver, identified as Michael Butler, was in a Tesla Model 3 around 8 pm. local time on Friday when the vehicle went off the ro ad and slammed into a brick home “at a high rate of speed,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The crash happened in Katy, Texas, about 30 miles west of Houston. Butler told deputies the Tesla’s automated driving-assistance system was engaged at the time of the crash. Butler showed no signs of intoxication and cooperated with law enforcement, according to the sheriff’s office. The vehicle tore through the home and struck 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was inside. Avila was taken to a nearby hospital, where she later died from her injuries. It was not immediately clear whether anyone else sustained any injuries in the crash. Door camera footage that captured the crash showed the Tesla plowing into the house. “This is the car flying into my home. My mom didn’t deserve this,” Jennifer Barbour, Avila’s daughter, said in a Facebook post sharing the video. A neighbor who witness the collision said the car was going about 60- to 70-miles-per-hour through the neighborhood, NBC affiliate KPRC reported. “We saw a car flying by down the street,” the neighbor said. “Next thing we know, we hear it hit that curb in that driveway and it ran into the house.” Another neighbor reported hearing the driver screaming as the vehicle went down the street. An investigation into the crash is underway. Tesla offers three types of Autopilot capabilities: Basic, which matches vehicle speed to surrounding traffic and assists drivers to remain in marked lanes; Enhanced, which changes lanes on the highway and guides cars from highway on-ramp to off-ramp, and autoparks; and full self-driving capability. However, none of the systems make the vehicle completely autonomous, so drivers must remain fully attentive, with their hands on the steering wheel at all times, according to Tesla. Tesla’s autopilot function is a popular feature but has been plagued with issues in recent years. In 2023, the company recalled more than two million vehicles after federal regulators said the automaker had not done enough to ensure that drivers remained attentive when using autopilot, leading to deadly consequences. The recall came after a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into a series of crashes that happened while the Autopilot partially automated driving system was in use. Nearly a year later, investigators with the NHTSA reported concerns about whether the recall remedy worked because Tesla has reported 20 crashes after the remedy was sent out as an online software update. Tesla did not immediately respond to NBC’s request for comment. ...read more read less